John Rushing, Arizona’s new safeties coach, kept tabs on the Wildcats’ defense last season.
Rushing was coaching at Oregon State, which visited Arizona in November. One of his best buddies, Marcel Yates, was the Wildcats’ defensive coordinator. The two would exchange information from time to time. They had no idea they would become co-workers a few months later.
“I’ve been able to watch this defense from afar,” Rushing said. “I told Marcel this, and this was before I even thought about coming to Arizona: He did a good job of playing these kids early.
“I played at Washington State when we had the ‘Palouse Posse,’ and we had the Desert Swarm here. It seemed like both of those programs, with great defenses, they grew up on the field.”
Arizona’s by-design youth movement is the biggest cause for optimism entering Yates’ third season, which could be a make-or-break year for him. The Wildcats regressed in 2016, his first season (which was a step back for the program overall). They improved in certain areas last year but didn’t experience the breakthrough he envisioned.
The hope is that with more experience, those young players — and the defense as a whole — will take a major leap forward in 2018.
“They ran the system for a year. Now they understand it. They know it,” Yates said Thursday after Arizona’s penultimate practice of spring. “Now I’m not coaching up the scheme. I’m coaching them more about understanding what the offense is trying to do to us to beat whatever we’re calling.
“Now we kind of move from A-B-C to D-E-F-G.”
Yates has moved from DBs to LBs this year, and nowhere is the youth movement more prevalent than the latter.
Yates has three returning starters in Tony Fields II, Colin Schooler and Kylan Wilborn. All were true freshmen a year ago. Fields and Wilborn started every game; Schooler started the final nine. They earned numerous all-freshman accolades.
“They were really good as freshmen,” Yates said. “But they also made a lot of mistakes. They know that. Those mistakes had nothing to do with coaching. It’s not like their last coach wasn’t good. They made mistakes because they were just young. They didn’t understand the game as well as they should.
“They were freshman All-Americans. My goal for them is to be All-Americans.”
Yates is looking forward to working with the defensive front again. He knows the Wildcats’ third-down defense wasn’t good enough last year and that the best way to fix that is to improve the pass rush.
Arizona’s defensive third-down percentage improved from 52.3 in Yates’ first season to 46.7 last year. However, it was 51.1 percent over the final nine games. The Wildcats ranked 119th in the country in third-down defense.
“We’ve gotta get off the field,” Yates said. “That comes back to pass rush. That comes back to me wanting to get my hands on that front seven and get them to understand that we need to get to the quarterback.
“When you turn on the last bowl games and you look at the teams that are winning, the one thing that they all have in common is that front. That front four, that front seven are getting to the quarterback.”
Yates feels comfortable with Rushing and cornerbacks coach Demetrice Martin running the secondary. Rushing was one of Yates’ coaches at Boise State, and they worked together at Montana State. Martin has been coaching in the Pac-12 for more than a decade.
With the back end in good hands, Yates is working with defensive line coach Iona Uiagalelei to teach the finer points of rushing the passer.
“We spend a lot of time trying to make sure that we’re gap-sound, that guys are getting off the ball,” Yates said. “He and I are … trying to get that clear and get guys to understand, this is a game of seconds, a game of inches. We’re getting there.”
Yates also cited the need to stop the run, or at least slow it down. Arizona allowed 185.1 rushing yards per game last season, ranking ninth in the Pac-12.
That was a 9.1-yard improvement from the previous year. But the average per rush was about the same – 4.6 in 2017 compared to 4.7 in ’16.
The Wildcats should have more depth and bulk up front. Newcomers PJ Johnson and Mykee Irving made plays during last week’s open scrimmage. So did redshirt junior Sione Taufahema. All are over 300 pounds. None played for Arizona last season.
“We wanted to get some beef up front. We did that,” Yates said. “We got some bigger bodies. We have more guys on the inside.”
The question is whether it will all add up — whether having more experience, new coaching assignments, greater size and improved depth will make a real difference.
“It’s gotta be a joint effort,” Rushing said. “D-line guys getting after the quarterback. Guys on the back end holding coverage.”
Extra points
- Yates indicated that Wilborn and Jalen Harris, who both play the “Stud” position, were dinged up last week, when they dressed but didn’t participate in the open scrimmage. “Minor injuries, nothing major,” said Yates, who hopes both will be available for Saturday’s spring game.
- The spring game, pitting the offense vs. the defense, will begin at 5 p.m. at Arizona Stadium. Fans must enter through Gate 18, which will open at 4 p.m. Admission is free.
